I Don't Want My Thumbs to Fall Off

Thu, 2008-05-01 08:12 — Asbjörn

I am working on the "Dashing" fingerless gloves by Cheryl Niamath. When you come to the last step which is the thumb, the pattern instructs you to atach yarn (the working yarn you will use to create the thumb), and I can't find any information on the best way to go about this. I know how to join new yarn to working yarn (felted join, Russian join etc.), but how to simply attach yarn where there is no loose end? I gave it a go my own way and this is what happened...

On the completed (except for weaving in ends), left glove I attached the thumb yarn by knotting the yarn securely (or so I thought) to the side of the thumb opening in the direction from which I would be knitting (right side). This failed as after binding off, to my horro I felt the yarn "give" and instantly assumed the thumb just popped off. I carefully turned the glove inside out and found that the yarn had detached but my stitches were still in place so I tied a long piece of scrap yarn to the working yarn to ensure that it didn't self frog until I figured out how to remedy the situation.

Here is the pattern portion to which I am referring, I hope you guys can help!

ThumbCarefully remove waste yarn and place resulting live sts on two double-point needles; there will be 5sts below the opening and 4sts above. Attach yarn and, continuing in Rib Pattern, work the 5sts on lower needle; using a second needle, pick up and k3 sts in space between upper and lower needles, work first 2sts from upper needle; using a third needle, work remaining 2sts from upper needle and pick up and k3 sts in space between this needle and lower needle. 15sts.

Mario has the answer (as usual). You can tug at the tail to even up the tension when you are about to weave it in and even use it to fill in any holes with a duplicate stitch since gloves often have holes where fingers are attached. Good luck.

I agree with MMario. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. I was once told that you should never knot yarn when joining, since eventually the knot will come undone, but of course that doesn't account for the knots left by those who spun the yarn to begin with.